This is very true. But don’t get too excited. The key to this formula is traffic.

Let me put it this way, let’s say you’ve knocked one out of the park: you’ve produced a blog post with a great title, the content is valuable, witty and easily implemented – your readers, never mind being delightfully entertained in reading the thing, are going to benefit in spades.

And you don’t get a single comment.

To make matters worse, someone else has written what you consider to be an OK article on the same topic, and the comments to their post has just surpassed the 100 mark – a mere couple of hours after they’ve posted.

Here’s the difference between us and them (for lack of a better term, let’s call them A-Listers):

For most of us, Traffic = less than 1K followers + no book + no speaking gigs

Add to that the fact that in every How To Rule the Online World-type article, readers are being told to comment on other people’s blog in order to get noticed. Given that most people read the blogs of the A-Listers, it’s easy to comment on those blogs. Plus, the time constraints we all face tend to preclude us from searching out new sites to read.

So, you see what I mean?

My point in writing this is not to bum you out, or to shake a virtual fist at the A-Listers, but rather to help you manage your expectations. And, to encourage you to really appreciate the comments you do get: someone took the time (and we all are in the midst of a time famine) to read your post and then, God love ‘em, they took the time to comment on your post.

So here are four parting thoughts:

Continue to write quality content and always be improving your chops.

Place more importance on analytics than comments.

Go out of your way to show appreciation for those who take the time to comment on your blog post (reply in a warm and genuine way, go over to their blog and return the favor, give them some RT, Like, and +1 love on their stuff).

8 Responses to Getting People to Comment on Your Blog – The Real Secret

If nothing else, you’ve illustrated a wonderful point that some us of still struggle with. There’s no SECRET FORMULA to success. It’s built through trial and error by our own personal definition. They same goes with attracting likes, follows and comments on our blogs. If such a formula exists, it’d be persistence and patience.

Tooo funny and soo true. You have to have the traffic coming through in order to increase your comment percentages. It’s a numbers game and of course quality content. I like that you are suggesting we gauge by analytics and not by number of comments. Good stuff!

Hi Dorethia – thank you for the comment. I think we have to acknowledge that we’re lucky if they read our blog post. Comments are few and far between – unless it’s something very controversial which most B2B blogs tend to avoid. It’s interesting, on another post I wrote, people didn’t comment on the blog but rather on Facebook.

This is the 5th post I’ve read today about trying to increase blog comments, yours is the first to mention analytics and I totally agree. It wont help you get people to comment but at least you know that people are reading and you can see which posts perform better than others.

Hi Nick – when I think of the number I posts I read without leaving a comment, it’s not because I didn’t find the post to be good or thought provoking, but rather a time issue or not having anything to add. Thanks for the comment. Glad you found the post helpful!

Its not as hard as it sounds to write a small ebook, or a self published book. It doesn’t have to be “7 Habits” to be highly effective at promoting your brand and you can put these books or ebooks as part of your introductory “Wow the new prospect” kit.

You can also drive traffic with some videos. I don’t see many erp partners trying that, and consequently it has to be low hanging fruit, until the standards of production quality get higher.

Lastly, I think if you make comments in blogs you will get links and that will drive traffic somewhat. Make them either helpful, insightful, or really funny without attacking or mudslinging.